Trump calls Ohio Republicans in attempt to oust GOP chairman

A bitter battle between forces for Donald Trump and John Kasich comes to a head today amid accusations of lies and rules violations in the race for Ohio Republican chairman.

Darrel RowlandThe Columbus Dispatch

A bitter battle between forces for Donald Trump and John Kasich comes to a head Friday amid accusations of lies and rules violations in the race for Ohio Republican chairman.

Trump personally has called about a dozen members of the committee taking the vote, urging them to vote for challenger Jane Timken, several media organizations are reporting. Kasich already has said he has been campaigning for his favorite, current Chairman Matt Borges.

Former state Attorney General Betty D. Montgomery filed a complaint today accusing Trump’s Ohio campaign director, Robert Paduchik, of violating Republican National Committee rules. Paduchik, now a top official of the GOP national organization, is campaigning for Timken on behalf of Trump.

Montgomery criticized “this open interference with the state party's election.”

Paduchik did not respond to a request for his side of the story.

The 66 members of the GOP state central committee — a man and a woman from each state Senate district — will meet Friday morning in Lewis Center to choose between Borges and Timken. The vote is being watched nationally as a test of power for Trump in a rival’s home state.

Montgomery is backing Borges, chairman since 2013 who was openly reluctant to support Trump after Kasich withdrew from the presidential race last year.

Borges gave an indication of the harshness of the competition in a letter to committee members this week.

“I’ve been called a liar, and have been subjected to completely untrue rumors being spread about the state party, our finances, and even me personally,” he said.

Both Borges and Timken say they have the 34 votes necessary to prevail.

Paduchik was present in Cincinnati in early December when Trump pledged his support for Timken, vice chairman of the Stark County GOP.

“He has directed me to assist her campaign and has offered his support as needed,” Paduchik said in a letter to Ohio Republican leaders last month.

“Ohio’s victory was made unnecessarily more difficult because of Chairman Borges’ failure to support and defend our nominee. At times, Chairman Borges’ comments to the press were hostile and played into the narrative of the Clinton campaign’s message,” Paduchik said.

“Chairman Borges’ actions have divided the state central committee and he can no longer effectively lead the Ohio Republican Party.”

Paduchik reminded the GOP faithful that Trump “cut Chairman Borges out of the campaign because he couldn’t be trusted. Trust is an important thing in politics. I’ve spoken with many committee members and GOP county chairs that have also lost trust in Chairman Borges.”

But in his letter to the committee, Borges stressed how he stood up for Trump.

“When John Kasich dropped out of the race for president, I was among the first to announce my support for Donald Trump. I received my first phone call from Mr. Trump in early May, and we spoke for nearly 40 minutes discussing how to set up an organization for him to win here. I continued to speak with Mr. Trump, (campaign managers) Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort for several weeks as we discussed staffing, campaign visits, arranging endorsements, and other matters. I gave my unequivocal support to Bob Paduchik to be Trump's Ohio campaign director.”

Borges also said he “assisted the campaign in raising hundreds of thousands of dollars” and the state party “continued to provide all necessary resources to the Trump campaign, including having their entire staff on our payroll, housing and executing the election day operation in our building.”

Borges said he also urged Kasich to make recent contacts with Trump, which the governor did.

After nominating speeches for both candidates, each gets 10 minutes to make their own case personally or through others. The committee vote is secret – and each can select an observer to watch the count – but the result is announced in public.

Even if Timken doesn't win Friday the Trump team could mount an effort to unseat pro-Borges committee members in next year's May GOP primary as a percursor to another challenge.

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